Tag: small actions matter

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Dry July is back and I’m excited about it

Yes, it’s this time of year where the sun is out, everyone seems to meet at the riverside, beach or the local park and summer drinks are everywhere. I can’t wait! After two years of COVID restrictions and staying mostly indoors and away from people, I am really looking forward to a more “normal” summer. This year, I not only want a normal summer, I want a super summer and my first step is to start with Dry July.

Lemonade mocktail (Photo by Geraud pfeiffer from Pexels)

You heard me right: I want to abstain from alcohol for a whole month. I wouldn’t describe myself an alcoholic but who would say that of themselves? Also, many people regularly drink more than I do. This should not be an excuse though. I think it would do me good to be sober for a few weeks and learn from the experience. It shouldn’t be hard, after all, 4 weeks pass quickly. Besides, I’m not the only one who is choosing July as the go to month considering that “Dry July” rhymes.

Have you ever heard of Dry July?

I actually hadn’t but I still wanted a month without alcohol. Given the “Dry July” rhyme, I thought I’ll search if others are doing it already and I was not disappointed. In Australia, the Dry July Foundation has been going since 2008 and raised over AUD 250.000 in the first year and already over AUD 580.000 this year. What an achievement!

July is not just any month either, no! July is a month with 31 days so it’s a lot longer than say February. It is also the main summer school holiday month in the Northern hemisphere. In some regions of Spain, the holidays in July are summarized as “Festivos de julio” and the locals party for a full 3 weeks straight!

Can I do it?

I think I can. I successfully completed two “Dry January” months already and never struggled. The best result of this month was that I slept better and lost weight (about half a pound) over that month. That in itself was worth it. Yes, I was younger then but surely, age and experience will work in my favor? If not that, then the fact that I’m calmer now with fewer opportunities to go out and party.

Quick side note: I am doing this month off for personal reasons. I guess, I am trying to prove to myself that I actually can do it. No more, no less. No hidden reasons, no intention of forcing my little experiment onto others. It’s just my month off.

Right now, I’m planning how to get around being tempted to drink and it seems easy enough. In summer time, I sometimes enjoyed a Gin&Tonic, so I simply leave out the gin. Simple. There are also numerous mocktails available, that I won’t have a hard time choosing. With nice dinners out, red wine was my typical go to drink. My plan is to swap it out for tea and infusions (hot or cold but most certainly without sugar and sweeteners). The flavors should give me the same sensation as wine without the buzz.

In summary, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be to go for a whole month without alcohol.

How about you? Will you join me and thousands of others in Dry July?

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Here goes abortion, privacy, human rights… Now act!

What happened?

On Friday, 24 June 2022, Roe v Wade was overruled. Roe v Wade is a landmark ruling by the US Supreme Court in 1973 focusing on granting privacy to discuss healthcare needs for women including abortions. This meant that women were able to have abortions. Now this abortion (privacy) law is overruled and left to states (for now).

What does it mean?

At this point, abortion will potentially, soon to be or completely illegal in 16 states and legal for now in 35. These numbers are likely to change in the coming months – especially after the mid term elections in November. Also, given the legal quagmire, there are some institutions which will not save a woman’s life at risk from ectopic pregnancy even though they could.

What will the immediate impact / follow on be?

We know what will come next: “Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas says gay rights, contraception rulings should be reconsidered“.

Beyond that, nobody knows for sure. Looking into my hypothetical crystal ball, I would say that once contraception and gay rights are struck down, the next likely step – in my humble opinion – would be to stop women from traveling over state lines, interracial marriage and bring back segregation. Then, I guess, women and non-whites will loose their voting rights and who knows, Salem “witch” trials may be the norm again. Instead of witches, women with miscarriages will be the targets like in Texas, Mississippi (that was in 2006!), Oklahoma… and soon, near you.

This is not what we want!

This is not what I want!

Don’t despair, there are things we can do!

What to do now?

It does NOT have to be this way. You can and you MUST TAKE ACTION to build a better future. I am talking to everyone here irrespective of skin color: women, LGBTQ+ and MEN who care about the society they live in.

Here are my suggestions on how to safe our future:

1. Register to vote in November

2. Sign up to be a poll worker and volunteer on election days
It is important to have as many impartial poll workers as possible. The more liberal minded folks oversee the elections, the more likely that the elections will be fair. Or do you really want to leave it up to the people who overturned Roe v Wade?

3. In November, vote the GOP out!
It takes every vote and you cannot afford to stay home and leave it up to others. You must vote if you want a better future. You must vote at every level – local and federal – not only for senior politicians but also for smaller, local posts because this is where politicians often start their career. Also, local elections have a big impact on your day to day life.

4. Volunteer for human rights, women’s rights, abortion rights and similar – even one hour a month will help us all

5. Call and email your representative to tell them how they should represent you

6. Move to another state or another country if you can

7. Take care of yourself and those around you!
The situation will get better but it will take some time. In the meantime, you will need your strength to get through to the other end and see a better society.

Go and vote!!!

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Fasting and it’s many benefits

Throughout my life, I’ve only eaten one meal a day and at most one meal and a snack. The main reason was simple: I don’t enjoy cooking and didn’t have the time to spend on food preparation. Besides, at times, I didn’t have a lot of money and my food budget was one of the first things to be cut which meant that there simply wasn’t more than one meal that day, usually cheap pasta or rice.

Over the years, as my life changed, I started to eat a more “normal” way and guess what: I gained weight… and a lot of it. With the weight gain came health issues, a drop in energy and other negative impacts on my life. Now what?

About 18 months ago, I was told that I had three tumors and that nothing could be done about them. The only way to deal with them – so I was told – is to sit, wait and watch. If they grew or not and if they grew, how fast. I was not impressed and spent the next few days (weeks?) wallowing in self pity before going on the offensive.

I started reading up on my situation and how to deal with it in the most natural way possible. After all, I want to help my body heal itself and not load up on more chemicals which caused the tumors in the fist place.
Side note: as a result, I changed cleaning products, toothpaste, moth repellents… Let me know in the comments if you have positive experiences with cutting out unnecessary harmful chemicals.

Leftover stew

For the next few months, I tried all sorts of diets, supplements, relaxation techniques etc before I stumbled across a growing number of people (including medical doctors) who advocate for intermittent fasting. One of my favorite book titles is “The Energy Paradox: What to Do When Your Get-Up-and-Go Has Got Up and Gone“. I suggested it to my partner who then promptly adopted intermittent fasting without me ever asking.
Side note: I am not sponsored by any of these people, organizations and companies. I merely mention them because they may be of interest to you. Please always make up your own mind. For me, I replaced cows milk with goats milk and I can have Caffè lattes again.

Intermittent fasting, in a nutshell, is when you eat during a certain number of hours and don’t eat (aka fast) during the rest. One of the better known versions is the 8-16 where you eat during 8 hours and then fast for 16 hours. If that sounds hard, it isn’t really. After all, on 8-16, you can fit breakfast in at 10am, lunch at 1pm and then finish dinner by 6pm. That is when I realized that possibly I simply need to go back to my old lifestyle to get back to my old healthy self. After all, there are plenty of health benefits of intermittent fasting which are being investigated and discussed in the medical community right now.

So, I am back to eating once a day at lunchtime on most days and sometimes I will have breakfast. I’m not very tall so it’s easy for me to get all the energy and nutrients I need from that one meal. Most importantly, it saves a lot of time in the kitchen and additionally, it gives me more energy. You heard right. Despite having a slightly larger meal, I don’t feel the post-lunch slump. I also don’t feel hungry – not a single time, never. My body seems to be happy to have only one meal and then digest it for the rest of the day.

Summer vegetable & pesto rose tart (Recipe: BBC Good Food)

What’s more, I am sleeping a lot better and that means I wake up without an alarm clock again. For me, sleep is really important and I am so happy that I no longer toss and turn before falling asleep or wake up in the middle of the night. Also my (menopausal?) night sweats have disappeared at long last. I am so happy 🙂

I am confident that intermittent fasting is good for me and I am ready to take the next step. This Saturday, I will be fasting the whole day. How exciting!

Try intermittent fasting for yourself! Leave out breakfast or dinner and tell us in the comments how you got on.

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Look at what they do – not what they say

Always, always, always look at what “they” do and not what “they” say.

First up, when I refer to “they”, then I’m thinking of people (e.g. Trump, Johnson, Putin) as well as companies. Any legal entity is able to be incongruent in their actions and words. For the rest of the article, I shall refer to “person” to cover all of these.

Now, why would you focus on actions rather than words?

“What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’ve mentioned a few times that words are cheap and easy. Anyone can say any combinations of words and letters and sentences. The only conditions are the intentions and morals of the person. That is where the problems start.

Any person who is dishonest, immoral or simply not interested will tell you whatever they think you want to hear. You will be happy for a moment and they get their way. Then they break their promises, go behind your back or quietly ignore their previous statements. That is the point when it’s important to start observing their behavior and actions instead of their words.

A simple example is your spouse / partner who tells you that they love you and then break up with you the next day because they want to move in with their new partner.

Or it could be Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, who says “We are in a battle for the hearts and minds of our people, and we are going to be successful” whilst shutting down a unionized Starbucks in Ithaca. In Europe, where workers’ rights are taken more seriously and where the laws are embedded in law, this would not even be an option.

There are many more examples where actions and words don’t match up and ultimately, if they don’t then trust erodes and relationships break down. Walking away from someone who continually breaks promises may be the only option. It is not a bad option either because it frees you for better connections, relationships and experiences going forward. I once had to walk away from what could have been a great job because my manager said one thing to my face and another behind my back. Turns out, walking away was one of the best things I have ever done and in hindsight, I should have walked away sooner.

Beware though: this notion of observing actions over words is also important when it comes to your actions and words. If you say that you will do something, then you better do it. After all, everyone will be paying attention to your actions over your words. That includes me also and let me tell you, over the years, I have become a lot more aware of what I promise. I’m also more cognizant of what I have to say No to. Do I want to catch up on sleep or do I want to have one more glass of wine with friends? Do I want to help you move house or do I want to go for a hike in the mountains? I can’t do it all and I need to choose and communicate my decision clearly.

“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”

Carl Gustav Jung

Most importantly, observe the representatives and politicians you voted for! You voted for them based on what they said and possibly on previous actions. How do they act? What do they say? Does it match up? Do they represent you the way you deserve to be represented? If it doesn’t, I strongly recommend you look for better representation next time.

My suggestion to you is that you use next week to watch, observe and possibly even take note of what people say and then check what they do it. Does it match up?

Observe, compare, think. Then decide on how you want to deal with them.

Happy observing!

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Celebrate this Sunday the monumental Loving Day

On 12 June every year, people celebrate Loving Day in the USA. It marks the outcome of the 1967 landmark case “Loving versus Virginia“. With it, laws against interracial marriage and relations were ruled unconstitutional across all of the USA.

Mildred and Richard Loving in 1967; source: Wikipedia

What an achievement!

Pat yourselves on the back and celebrate the achievement. Now get up again and keep the ruling alive. Yes, you heard me correctly. The ruling is in danger of being overturned. Similar to the Roe v. Wade debate, this ruling is in danger of being repealed. It may be a little further into the future, however, once women’s rights are taken way, black and brown people will be next, before other minorities will be oppressed.

The first signs of coming oppression are already with us. Gerrymandering and voter suppression are reality for many and so is police violence. Both disadvantage people of color. Changing the Loving v. Virginia ruling will take away your right to choose the person who you want to spend the rest of your life with. Further, it appears to me to be the first step towards legalizing segregation. Who knows were it will end. I don’t even want to speculate.

The Loving v. Virginia ruling is already being discussed at higher levels and GOP politicians seem to think that individual states should make the decisions themselves. Just like they did with Roe v. Wade which is in the process of being overturned. You can watch the tragedy unfold right in front of your eyes… if you dare to keep them open.

If you live outside of the USA, you would be forgiven to think that this has no impact on your life. Think again. Looking back over history, the rise of fascism in one country often encouraged similar trends in other countries. I’m thinking of the outcome of the recent elections in Hungary followed by increased emergency powers for Viktor Orban for example or the last Brazilian presidential elections in 2018.

So, what can we do to keep our freedom?

It is the same routine as always: register to vote, then go and vote the GOP out of office.

You should also phone your representative and tell them to keep the law, so that they understand how important it is.

Alternatively, you can move to a more liberal country if this option is open to you.

It is up to you how you want to move forward: keep your freedoms and vote for them – OR – loose them.

Choose wisely!